Frank BRIDGE
Piano Trio No. 1 Phantasie Trio (1907)
Piano Trio No. 2 (1929)
Phantasy Piano Quartet (1911)
Dartington Piano Trio
rec Haberdashers' Aske's School,
Elstree, 10-11 July 1987
HYPERION CDH55063 [64.55]
Crotchet
£5.99 AmazonUK
AmazonUS
Frank Bridge Web
site
Hyperion has shown an enlightened approach to catalogue management. Freshening
up their back catalogue by transferring it to the midprice Helios label has
yielded up dividends for collectors and this is certainly the case here.
The Bridge trios and quartet were first issued as CDA66279 and have proved
an impossible act to follow. The two Phantasies (derived from Cobbett
competitions) are in substantially the same idiom which derives from Brahmsian
triumphalism toned and made supple by Fauré's ecstatic lyrical release
as in the Frenchman's First Piano Quartet. The Dartingtons were always a
strong ensemble with Frank Wibaut (piano), Oliver Butterworth (violin) and
Michael Evans (cello). They play the Phantasie Piano Trio for all it is worth
extracting a fragrant tunefulness, glowing sentiment and warm sentiment from
this most lovely of British chamber works. They take the work at a more measured
pace than the Holywell Ensemble British Music Label BML 003. The
same irresistibly 'sticky' approach to melody casts its caramelised (but
not saccharine) spell over the predominantly dramatic pages of the Piano
Quartet. The Trio are joined by Patrick Ireland for this. Both works were
written for the various Cobbett competitions.
The Piano Trio No. 2 evinces a complete change of language; little wonder
that critics of the day (1929) were dumbfounded by a transformation that
first announced itself in the pages of the 1925 Piano Sonata (dedicated to
Ernest Farrar killed in the Great War) developed in his masterwork Enter
Spring and found total consummation in two works for soloist and orchestra:
Oration - Concerto Elegiaco (cello and orchestra) and Phantasm
(Rhapsody for piano and orchestra). The Trio leases behind 'childish
toys' and in wisps, shadows and fragments explores the paths of Bartók,
Webern and van Dieren though avoiding multilinear complexity. The Trio is
given with utmost sensitivity. Anything less would crush its silky-steel
structure and strained tonality. It is the most extreme example of his spare
later style. It needs persistence from the listener to enter its crepuscular
leafy world. Personally my preference would be for the marginally less chilly
performance and recording by the Borodin Trio on Chandos (CHAN8495) but the
temperature drop sustained by the Dartingtons is probably a closer match
for the mood of this elusive work. If I were to go looking for quibbles it
would have to be that the Miniatures for piano trio could easily have
been squeezed onto the disc. While those Miniatures (three sets) are
no great shakes their salon simplicities (first experienced in the hands
of the Hanson Trio on Pearl LP SHE 586) would have provided yet a further
contrast. No gripes about the notes from Bridge expert Paul Hindmarsh. We
must hope that rumours about Chandos recording the complete Bridge orchestral
music will turn out to be more than mere speculation. Meantime do snap up
this disc.
Rob Barnett
Frank Bridge Web
site
